Grayslake North lines up a winner
Most of Friday night’s Class 3A girls basketball regional final contest between St. Viator and Grayslake North was a frenetic, fast-paced affair.
But at the relative calm of the free throw line, junior guard Jordyn Bowen and the rest of the Knights put the game in the win column.
Bowen was 11-of-14 from the line, including 5 big ones in crunch time, and her teammates pitched in by making 12 more foul shots as Grayslake defeated the Lions 52-44 at Northside Prep in Chicago.
“They were kind of packing it in on defense,” said Bowen, “so in our huddle I told the guys, ‘Come on, let’s use our brains and drive to the basket, and get them in foul trouble.’
“In a game like this we knew that every point was going to be a big point.”
Senior Katie McGrath and sophomore Kendall Detweiler led the way for the Knights with 15 points apiece, while Viator received tremendous performances from Erin Fabbri and Lauren Rooney.
Fabbri, a sophomore, scored a game high 22 points while Rooney, a 6-1 senior, excelled with 11 rebounds, 6 blocked shots and a couple of steals.
“They’re both quality players,” said Lions coach Paul Bjerkness. “Erin did a nice job tonight and she’s only going to get better, and Lauren’s done the job all year on defense and she’s been a monster on the boards.”
St. Viator took an 8-point lead late into the third quarter but some hot shooting by Detweiler and a 3-pointer from Bowen (14 points) helped the Knights draw within 37-36 to start the fourth.
Grayslake was able to slowly pull away from Viator in the final eight minutes at the foul line. The Knights hit 11 free throws in the fourth quarter while allowing the Lions only a couple of baskets by Fabbri and a late 3-pointer from Mallory Hess (6 points).
“We won the game at the line, “ said McGrath. “It was definitely a rough game tonight, but we’re tough and we can handle it — our motto is ‘Only the strong survive’. We wanted to win this game so badly for our school and that was our inspiration.”
Senior forward Brooke Sauer added 6 points for the Knights while junior center Joanna Guhl was strong on the glass with 7 rebounds.
“This win was a tribute to our five seniors, who are also our captains,” said Grayslake coach Jim Sarver, referring to McGrath, Sauer, Sara Steinhoff, Allie Ceglarek and Christina Freese. “They work so hard in practice and their leadership is so important to us — but everybody our team contributes.
“I was very happy to see them go man-to-man against us tonight,” added Sarver. “When teams go man against us, our dribble drives are very effective at drawing fouls.”